• Via Politico: White House to Jim Jordan, James Comer: Sorry, but you have to restart your oversight requests. Because they are not yet in position to make such requests–something they should know and understand.
• Via the NY Post: Trump didn’t know White House schedule was public until last weeks of presidency: ex-aide. Because, of course he didn’t.
• Via CNN: Former Trump White House aide told Jan. 6 panel Mark Meadows burned documents a dozen times during the transition period.
• This ProPublica piece is rather disturbing: They Called 911 for Help. Police and Prosecutors Used a New Junk Science to Decide They Were Liars.

In reality, people have been wrongfully accused and convicted of murder after someone misinterpreted their call for help, while those who used 911 call analysis against them face little or no consequences. I documented more than 100 cases in 26 states where Harpster’s methods played a pivotal role in arrests, prosecutions and convictions — likely a fraction of the actual figure.

• Via The New Republic: Transphobe of the Year: Matt Walsh.

The profile is more than disturbing and features some things I knew and others I didn’t. Still, I was struck by this quote: “Watching his early videos,” she said, “it’s really obvious that he wanted to become famous.”

This generated two thoughts. First, a lot of our current politics seems driven by people who just wanted to be famous and found a way to do so (think Rush Limbaugh and Tucker Carlson off the top of my head). Second, it is deeply troubling how being a protofascist is a route to popularity. (Granted, the needed audience to be “famous” is not necessarily all that large, especially in the internet era).

• Via The New Republic: Right-Wing Flop of the Year: Dinesh D’Souza’s 2000 Mules.

In the year election denial went mainstream, 2000 Mules held the distinction of being too ludicrous even for the right. D’Souza had something of a public meltdown when both Fox News and Newsmax allegedly declined to promote the film, perhaps out of fear of being dragged into yet more billion-dollar defamation lawsuits related to claims of election fraud. (Trump lambasted Fox for refusing to “show or discuss the greatest & most impactful documentary of our time.”) Ben Shapirosaid on his web show that “the conclusions of the film are not justified by the premises of the film itself,” and former Trump administration Attorney General Bill Barr, during his testimony in the January 6 committee hearings, laughed at D’Souza’s allegations and called the geotracking data “singularly unimpressive.”